my random ramblings

Monthly Archives: October 2015

With all the flurry of stuff to do while planning our upcoming wedding, one of it is to pick our rings.

We have decided early on that our rings will be in white gold. To match my engagement ring as well as to be easy on the eyes.

Plus Kei has this ridiculous rule that his ring must not have any stone and be plain as could be.

So I kind of went overboard (again) and pinned a whole lot of rings from pinterest.

These were among my picks.

pretty, shiny, sparkly stuff!

So, I showed everything to Kei and was met with a looks ok response. I particularly pointed out the two paired bands (left side of the photo) and asked if he liked any of those. Again I was met with the looks ok response. For the eternity rings (on the right side) his answer was no. I was like okay.

*well at least I tried. lols.

His reasons were practical. He told me to go for a half eternity. Not because he wanted me to have fewer stones but so that it would be practical to wear daily, can be re sized easily and I could easily twist the ring to hide the sparkly and the ring gets another look. And Kei’s name would be engraved inside of the band so the half eternity is the best choice.

And above all it should match the engagement ring. So my e-ring looks a bit like the photo below. (Which I don’t wear daily.)While some may think its odd. I choose to keep my e-ring and wear a “stand in” (significantly cheaper) ring for everyday. So, I will not worry that it gets lost, dinged, dirty, misplaced…etc. Plus, I’m clumsy at times. I am scared that I will lose a stone.

a true classic

While I don’t plan to wear both the engagement ring and the wedding band on the same finger, I figured ok. I go for the classic look because it will be timeless.

So, half eternity and classic. Seems easy enough. And oh, also no stones that has corner/s. That criteria came from Kei’s mom. Apparently stones with corners would mean quarrels with your mate. Not really sure where that came from but to be sure, we would follow. That means no square, marquise or teardrop shaped stones. So, round stones. Round like my e-ring.

So I narrowed down my choices and here are my picks.

narrowed down

Kei disliked the chunky ones. That leaves me with the left most and the far right ring to choose from.

Since I am hard on my hands, I opted for the left most design. It is rather plain. A half eternity, in channel setting.

I wanted to tweak it a bit. If I am correct, I wanted a channel, with thread and grain or pave setting.

This time we have to get a jeweler’s opinion.

what my wedding ring will look like according to our criteria for searching.

Since we already have a church friend that is on the jewelry making/selling business, we paid them a visit. Kei easily picked the design he liked from the rings on display. His was a plain polished white gold band with the comfort fit.

Kei’s pick looks a bit like this. Just make the whole thing polished. And add the comfort fit curve on the band.

Meanwhile, I kept on trying out ring after ring.

different styles I tried on

Yep. Tried them all. Atchie Helen (the jeweller) was so patient with me! I think I may have stayed at the shop for more than two hours just trying out rings.

All sparkly, all beautiful. But when I wear them on my hand, it is a different story.

There are some I like and some I don’t. The chunky bands make may short fingers look chubbier and shorter. Delicate filigree rings made my hand look dainty. The thin bands created the illusion of having a slender hand. Infinity bands made me look sophisticated.

The weird thing is, I started to “envision” the band on my hand. True those I tried are all pretty, most of them are intricate.

But I cannot see myself wearing those fancy styled bands. Instead I started to think about what would really fit me. The normal boring real life me.

Example I will be cooking/washing the dishes wearing that delicate filigree ring… would it still look delicate then? How would it stand up to the daily life? Go on with my daily activities wearing that?

I finally got what Kei meant when he told me to go for practicality. So, I asked Atchie Helen about the band I wanted even before I got distracted by all the pretty blings. The half eternity,channel, with thread and grain or pave setting.

And I was told that it is a good and safe choice. So Atchie Helen (our jeweller) then helped me customize my “plain” ring and sketched + showed me stones that would be used. And even “matched” my ring to look similar to Kei’s ring.

our bands will look like this

So in the end I went with the plain looking/common one, and I cant wait to wear it daily. After this experience I think maybe, just maybe there is a reason why most wedding bands are plain.

The store we visited is Helen Jewelry Store Located at 927 Ongpin St. Sta. Cruz Manila, Philippines. *updated as of July 2016*

The shopkeeper/person to look for? HELEN. She gives the best prices and does custom designs. Confused? look for the prettiest lady in the shop. That would be her! Tell her that you are a reader of Pam and Kei ‘s blog. You will be sure to get yourself a good price.

Oh, the price? while I am not dropping numbers here, because that also depends on the jewelry design you choose. But, I can safely say that the price is good. A good 25% (or more) cheaper than prices at the mall. They also carry a variety of gems and jewelry.

*All my reviews, opinions, and other stuff expressed here are my own and based on my own experience with the product. This is not a sponsored post, Kei paid for this from his own pocket.

**All photos are taken from the internet. No photos for safety/privacy concerns.

I have told you before that we are looking for house stuff. And that most of our weekends are spent on being in our place, appliance stores and furniture looking.

Pottery Barn & Crate & Barrel photos from the internet

We looked at Crate and Barrel and Pottery Barn, the international furniture and home stores that are new here in the Philippines. Loving most of their pieces but sadly the budget cannot accommodate our desires so we searched for an alternative that lead us to SM’s Our Home.

Our home photo taken from their Fb page (June 2015)

When I tell you that it is an alternative, it really is. See the example below, Looks familiar?

seeing double? both pictures are taken from their facebook page.

The difference of course lies in the price, brand and quality. But for a cheaper doppelganger, why not right? Or so we thought then.

So, we came back once or twice a month to check/scout for the furniture/s we like that are within the budget. Measured and listed them down.

Since we got the house sorted out and ready for furniture, we got their quotation just this Oct 4, 2015 (Sunday).

the quotation they gave us – you can see all the items we picked out. (sofa, bed frame and mattress)

*At the bottom of their quotation, they have this fine print that states that prices are subject to change without prior notice. -to be fair this is pretty standard.

This is the Charles 3-seater sofa that is priced at 17,950.

This three seater sofa and ottoman was part of their display last June. It goes for 19,950.00php back then. Photo taken from Our Home’s Facebook page.

We picked it because it would fit out tiny place.

Next piece of furniture we picked out was this (Gunther) bed frame. This was the one we have been eyeing for a long time now.

The main reason why we are so keen on this? Storage space under the bed. (this photo was taken last Sept 6, 2015)

It looks exactly like that when I last saw it. We were told that it was the last piece.

So, it was expected that the price we saw before is going down due to the discount extended for SM prestige card.

Come Oct 12, 2015 (Monday), just a week after we last saw the bed. Kei went to Our Home again. To see if there is any new item that will be added on the sale on the weekend of Oct 16-18, 2015.

And of course to check on the bed again as it was the last piece.

Sadly this happened. Just whoa!

sudden spike in price! the difference is 2,000.00php

They upped the price. Even with the discount you get with the sale, its price would be almost the same (its a bit higher) with its regular price.

Why you do this Our Home?

So, to clarify. We asked to talk to the Our Home staff and manager about the price difference. They can only say “sorry, we are just following orders.” While I don’t blame them, I felt like we got duped.

That is the thing with SM’s Our Home sale. It is misleading. Gets you to think you saved, but truth is you just got cheated. False advertising.

Sale price wasn’t always the best price. Apparently, Our Home marks-up prices before a sale is on. — selling products at regular prices, but calling it a sale. Again false advertising.-And because stubbornly, I still wanted to get more details regarding the sale in case we can still “salvage” (may natitira pa ba sa listahan na pwede natin bilhin na di naman kami nadaya sa presyo?) the items we listed down. Sayang naman pagod ko…Off to their Facebook page I go.

And pop goes the weasel. Negative comments abound.

These were taken from their Facebook page.

We are actually scared to push through buying any furniture piece from Our Home. Bargain hunters beware.

Time to scram. We lost a good chunk of time looking at their pieces, but good thing is that we found this out before any purchase was made.

Bye! the bunnies are running away. (Part of a photo from Sjaek, taken from the internet)

Sure, maybe décor and accessories like fake flowers and vases. But then again we can just save a bit more and get better décor items from Pottery Barn and Crate&Barrel.

But no furniture buying from Our Home, in the end we choose/decided to get local woodworkers to just custom make our furniture pieces. At least we get an honest quote, natural wood, our money’s worth and helped support small time carpenters.

*All my reviews, opinions, and other stuff expressed here are our own and based on our own experience with the said store.

I’m just sharing the products that make me feel happy, pretty, girly-girl awesome. Even if I am a frazzled mess.

Nothing soothes my nerves quite like looking good.

Shallow, I know. But honey that is my therapy!

It sure is irrational that I go and get a lot of products and not use them everyday, I only use them on weekends. But I am still a girl and I’m just fascinated by makeup, dresses, and nail polish. Being pretty in general, like it would improve my quality of life?!

So, these are rightfully my fall favorites.

taken with my mobile phone- pardon the picture quality.

Since it’s fall season I darkened up my lips a notch. Currently alternating L’Oreal Paris collection star by Freida Pinto in Pure Rouge and Mac Rebel. These colors make me look polished and mature even if I only have baby powder on my face. -Added bonus: they make my teeth and skin look a lot whiter.

On my eyes, I am still on a roll with smokey eyes as it makes my tiny eyes look bigger and more awake. So the Urban Decay Naked Smoky eye shadow palette my cousin Jackie sent me gets a lot of love. I even managed to use it to create light eyes.

Depending on the color of the metal accessories I wear, I got metallic nail polish to match on my very short child like nails. I am using Zoya in Ziv (gold) and Trixy (silver). The nail polish is to add a bit of festive sparkle, after all it is only a few weeks to Christmas.

*All my reviews, opinions, and other stuff expressed here are my own and based on my own experience with the product. This is not a sponsored post, I paid for these (from) my own pocket, save for the eye shadows those were gifed to me by my cousin.